Questions of class

The general strikes in Bombay, 1928-29

Bibliographic Data

ID5042639
AuthorsRajnarayan Chandavarkar (Cambridge and Lecturer in History, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 IT Q, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume33
Issue1-2
Pages205-237
Publication date1999-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContributions to Indian Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0069-9659 • E-ISSN: 0069-9667
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/006996679903300110
OpenAlexW2038577379
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited14

This essay presents an argument about the processes which, marked as much by contingency as by conflict, shaped the formation of class identity. It argues that the formation of class consciousness is contingent upon the specific historical context in which it develops. Its presence at one moment has not ensured its persistence at the next. Class consciousness is neither latent nor immanent within the working classes, but is most fruitfully analysed as a construct of political struggle and debate. Accordingly, the essay examines the construction of class in the course of the general strikes of 1928-29 in Bombay. These strikes involved at their core over 150,000 workers in more than eighty mills over a period of about eighteen months, but they also pulled into their orbit workers in other trades and occupations in the city and beyond; and, in addition, they developed and manifested widespread support among workers for the communists. In particular, the essay delineates a range of influences which shaped the political context of 1928-29 and informed these struggles. Finally, it sketches the conditions for the break-up of the solidarities of 1928-29 and the ebbing tide of class consciousness in the 1930s

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis · Class (philosophy · Class conflict · Class consciousness · Consciousness · Construct (python library · Context (archaeology · Contingency · Epistemology · Identity (music · Period (music · Political consciousness · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Working class · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Social and Economic Development in India · South Asian Studies and Conflicts

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub